Does he want to run for mayor of Chicago someday? Of course. With House speaker now off the table, Emanuel would like to lead his hometown and openly communicates that to people, including his friend Richard Daley, the incumbent mayor.

2010 Illinois Election Guide

But Emanuel would not run against the mayor, and William Daley told me that he thinks his brother will probably run again next year when his latest term expires.

So if Mayor Daley runs again, Rahm's looking at a 2015 race for mayor -- unless, morbid as it sounds, Daley follows his father's path and passes while in office.

Illinois Politics Goes MAD

As for what William Daley has to say about all this: After the magazine piece came out online last Thursday, Daley told NBC5 political reporter Mary Ann Ahern that if Rahm wants to be mayor, he needs to "get in line" -- which perhaps implies that Times reporter Peter Baker was supplying his own conjecture about Rahm, or that Rahm said so himself. Whichever it is, Baker doesn't make clear.